Occupied
by ChaosEmperorNex
Summary: Dumbledore always said Death was the next great adventure. Too bad no one knew just how twistingly appropriate those words were for Lily. WA Locked in a Room Challenge attempt


**Author's Note: Had some free time and wrote this quick one-shot. When I mean one-shot I mean one-shot. All in one sitting. It's for the WA Locked in a Room challenge but I don't expect to win. It's actually a spinoff of an idea I've been playing with for a while.**

 **Hope You Enjoy**

* * *

 _Mesmerizing._

That was Lily Potter's first thought as soon as the flash of green light passed away into twin pools of molten gold.

She blinked, slowly turning her neck while appraising her surroundings.

Unremarkable in its entirety, the spartan room of grey walls stood disinterestedly around a rectangular table of dull steel. Two chairs on either side, one for her and one for the Shade with gilded eyes.

A mane of darkness pooled to the side as the Shade's neck craned to regard her. "Red hair…it suits you."

"Ah," her fingers instinctively combed through a curtain of scarlet resting over her shoulder even as a chill passed through the tips of her ears, "thank you."

Past the winding shadows of the Shade's broad shoulders, Lily spotted a single door etched from obsidian.

An all too _familiar_ door.

Why did she recognize it? And why was it filling her with a sense of endless dread?

"I'm sorry," Lily shook her head lightly before scrutinizing the flickering shadow, "but where are we? And who are you?"

"Not where, flower." Amusement lined the Shade's voice. A voice, _engraved_ with soft frost. " _When_."

Her mouth opened and closed as she gave an odd look. "Okay… _when_ are we?"

She swore that a hum of soundless laughter passed through the air from her seated counterpart's direction. "A moment of renewal. To reflect…to remember."

"Am I...," her mouth went dry as she forced out the words, "am I _dead?"_

"Yes." Her breath hitched. "And no."

She shut her eyes tightly, a vein of confusion beginning to creep into the forefronts of her mind.

"That doesn't make sense," she said as her gaze opened to the staunch grey of the table and then froze in abrupt surprise. Where once the table was empty, a single crystalline flower now lay on it.

"Life rarely does." She noticed the slow enunciation of each word. As if all the time in the world meant nothing. "Death even less so."

She huffed out a short breath of frustrated air.

"Why am I here?" She finally said after a moment.

"I've already told you, flower. To remember."

She narrowed her eyes as she crossed her arms. "Remember _what_?"

"What you've forgotten, obviously." The teasing inflection grated on her nerves far more than the maddening stillness of the colorless environment.

"You are very lucky I do not have my wand right now."

A laugh crept through the room, remote and chilling. Yet, oddly enough, Lily couldn't help but find solace in the sound. A tug at her heartstrings from some nostalgia long past.

"Always so temperamental, aren't you flower?"

"Do I know you?" The glint in her eyes began to hone itself to a fine edge.

 _"Do_ you?" Past the flickering shadows, Lily barely perceived the quirking of lips.

She let out a long suffering sigh and eyed the door. "Can I leave? Or am I trapped here?"

Golden eyes danced as they flitted over her. "That is up to you. Only you can open the door. I am more the prisoner here than you are, flower."

"Stop calling me that," she said wearily.

"But you _are_ a flower." There it was again. That sound of mocking familiarity. Some obvious note she wasn't understanding.

"Right." Lily nodded to herself as she stood up and briskly strode past the Shade.

Stopping before the slab of blackened stone, she carefully examined it with a keen eye. It was perfectly smooth and, as Lily put a hand to its surface, unnaturally _cold_. A violent shiver ruptured her spine as it devoured the warmth of her flesh and she was forced to hastily draw her fingers back.

She turned around, staring at the back of the Shade's head. "How do I open this thing?"

"You really don't listen, do you?" Lily grit her teeth at the edge in the laughing voice. "The door will only open when what is forgotten is found."

"I haven't forgotten a thing!" A heavy scowl etched its way onto her features.

"Then open the door and let us both be free."

Lily felt the overwhelming urge to put her hands around that hidden and rumbling throat.

"Can you at least tell me what I've forgotten?"

"You've forgotten your past, flower."

She blinked in confusion. "My childhood? I think I remember it quite clear enough, thank you."

"Hmm." A dark sound reverberated through the air. "Perhaps, it would be more prudent to say you need recall what was...hidden?"

 _'Hidden?'_

She mouthed the word even as a certain horror dawned on her. "Are you…are you saying someone tampered with my _memories_?"

She walked back around and peered into those entrancing waves of golden light.

"Yes."

" _Who!_ "

The answer she received most definitely threw her for a loop.

"You."

She looked at him coolly, her voice falling flat. "Are you taking the piss?"

There was shift in the air and those golden pools eddied with rime and ire. "Careful, flower. I have never been known for tolerance."

The velvet voice, laced with iron, sent a rod of molten heat through her. Eliciting a dark sensation within her core.

"Take a seat. Think carefully."

She easily complied with the command veneered as a request and avoided looking back into those roiling eyes.

Slowly, she slid back into her seat, willing the weight of the dark gaze away and failing miserably with that effort. She raised her own stare, wanting to somehow break the moment of awkward density. However, the instant she caught the finely pressed line of radiant fire, Lily gave a heavy flinch.

There was a darkness there. One so old and terrible it seemed to be stifle the very breath in her lungs. A shadowed presence that demanded she offer up her soul and fall into submission.

It was dark, suffocating and so _utterly_ intoxicating.

Those golden eyes promised eternity in all the wrong ways.

"Breathe for me, flower."

Lily gave a startled cry as a frost induced tremor raged across her shoulders.

Quickly, she averted her eyes away from the overwhelming stare. Thoughts clouded, she bit the inside of her cheek, using the pain as a focus point, even as she did in Hogwarts to hammer through an exam.

The steel having receded to a soft pang, the Shade's voice gave another pull towards her heart beat.

"Apologies." _W_ _hy_ was the sound so familiar? "It was not my intent to frighten you."

Lily gave a short, mirthless sound even as she pulled a curtain of hair across her shoulder to provide some semblance of refuge. "Your eyes…they're a slight bit unnatural."

 _Merlin_ , that was great way to meet someone half way. Insult their appearance.

A wisp of obscured fingers rose to touch a veiled face. "A memento of my father. I look quite a bit like him."

The sudden emotion of the Shade's voice caused her to look up. An unpleasant sensation crossed through the opaque cloud surrounding the mysterious visage and she got the impression something she said had been cause for obvious displeasure.

Though she didn't ruminate on it too much as at the mention of the word 'father', her thoughts immediately fell to James.

 _Her_ James.

Fallen to the same spell, to the same wand, to the same wizard she did.

A weight pressed itself onto her chest as every shared memory, both blissful and agonizing, dredged itself forth from the recesses of her mind

"Is…is James also…" she trailed off, unable to voice the thought.

"James Potter." A sudden neutrality, if not harshness, made its way to her ears. She didn't like it. "Has passed away from the living."

She shut her eyes tight, willing the impending tears away as her nails dug painfully into her palms. "What about Harry?"

"Alive and well." And still the inflection came as remote and smooth. "Growing into the role set for him by monstrous and empty Fate."

Slowly, Lily wrapped her head with her hands as she leaned onto the unsympathetic metal.

Gone from her reach.

James passed on while she remained locked in Merlin knows where.

And Harry, her beloved Harry, taken most likely by Sirius.

Pooled tears spilled down dusted cheeks when fresh memories began to bloom uncontrollably.

No more would she hear the bubbling laughter of his every time she poked him playfully in the sides. No more would she see the dancing innocence reflected in emerald green eyes as she picked him up. No more would she be able to take in his soothing scent as she pressed him to her while he slept in her arms.

A sudden warmth fluttered over her and Lily felt a wave of security wrap onto her being. She looked up, past the tears and whirling emotions, at the statuesque figure before her.

"My condolences. It is never an easy thing, losing someone you love."

She stared at the Shade for a moment, reigning herself in her torrent of emotions before wiping away tears with the back of her hand. However, an unexpected pop before her revealed a satin handkerchief of black and gold lines.

She slowly picked it up, expressing a quiet thanks, and wiped away the wet tracks on her face. "Have you…have you ever lost someone?"

And even as the words left her mouth she winced at the blatant insensitivity of her question.

"I have." The shadows obscuring the shade faded to a degree, revealing a hazy, angular jaw.

"…Recently?" She _really_ needed to stop herself.

Looking off to the side, the gold shifted to a lighter color and filled with a spark of clarity. "I suppose it was quite recent for me…"

"Can you…can you tell me?" She didn't know why she was asking, but something in Lily was egging her on. Some dark and twisted impression demanding to know. To know _who_.

She saw lips purse and a bit more of the shadow lifted away from the hidden face. A soft fuzz lining around the mouth revealed a neat and lightly trimmed beard.

"She was an angel... _my_ angel." The fond tone caused an uneasiness in her and Lily began to shift in her seat.

"Beautiful in every sense of the word. Sincere yet _unbendingly_ strong in will. She was a veritable light to my dark."

A specter of cold passed through her at those word.

"Did you...did you love her?" The words falling hollow out of her mouth, Lily looked almost imploringly at the Shade.

Shadowed lips curved dangerously. "I did."

Her breath caught in her throat and, for one reason or another, Lily felt the overwhelming desire to scream.

"Something wrong, _flower_?"

Emerald fire lit at the sudden mocking tone and blew away even more of the writhing darkness covering her mysterious companion.

Sharp features, once more hitting a chord in her memory, of an ageless manner caught her eye as the corners of a pale mouth twitched in amusement.

"You said I tampered with my own memories," Lily said briskly, attempting to break away from the image of the Shade's Angel. "Why would I do that?"

"Such are the laws when we play the part of transient guests."

"I suppose asking for a straight answer is a little too much," She said while blowing a strand of hair out of her face.

An unapologizing smile confirmed her assertion. "Consider it a family trait."

"Like your eyes?" She asked with a raised brow.

Said eyes flashed devilishly. " _Very_ much like them."

She shook her head, exasperation beginning to mix with vexation.

"Whose laws?" Lily sighed as she folded her arms onto the table.

"Our laws." The Shade lifted a hand and tapped a single, bony finger to the steel. Instantly, two cups of steaming tea appeared on the table.

With legs crossed, the Shade picked up the saucer and cup, and gingerly took a sip. "Say what you will about my youngest sister, but she knows how to brew a perfect blend of tea."

Lily gave the summoned cup a speculative look. Everything she knew about magic told her it was impossible to conjure something without a wand.

"Drink up." She followed the tilt of the scruffy chin towards her offered cup. "It will get cold."

Deftly, she copied his action and took a sip of her own. The flavor was surprisingly strong, though not overtly so. And with the right balance of sugar, it was downright scrumptious.

"Admittedly, she only deserves half the praise as it is your mother that grows the actual tea-leaves."

Her gaze flicked back to those attention seeking lips.

"My mother?" Bafflement furrowed her brows.

"Yes, she always had a green thumb. Grandmother's influence no doubt. It's a shame she didn't inherit her tendency to stay quiet for extended periods of time."

A heavy frown wrenched itself onto her mouth. Her mother didn't garden…except she did. Lily recalled several times when she walked hand in hand with her mother as a child through fields of tall grain.

Except she _didn't_.

"There's not a soul in existence that can stop your mother once she starts chattering." The dry drawl was a touch insulting. "And _believe_ me when I say I've looked through them all."

Lily felt an ache along the temples of her skull. "Why did I erase my memories? Why would I choose to do such a thing?"

A fine brow rose, thin and ebony. "I'm repeating myself quite often, aren't I? When we choose to walk, we must give up our true selves."

"Why?"

"One of the few ways to get around the laws that bind us. We are forbidden to directly act in the world. Ergo, we forge ourselves in a way that no longer makes us, _us_."

A foreboding sense settled in her chest, coiling around her lungs and constricting while a hint of hysteria crept onto her thoughts. "What happens if I remember? Do I remain me? Do I become someone else?"

"You are who you are. That has not changed nor will it ever."

She glared in confusion and mild aggravation. "You just said I'm not who I used to be."

Abyss laced head shook ever so slightly, even as those infuriating lips curved. "Not who..."

"…What." She finished in a whisper.

Lily leaned back into her seat as the implications of those words hit her at terminal velocity. The teacup set cautiously down as her hand shook ever so slightly.

 _What_ was she?

Lily Potter: wife, mother and pseudo-scholar of magic.

These were all answers to the question _who_.

Golden gravity drew her in, _begging_ her to ask.

Lily swallowed forcefully. "I died."

The Shade's teacup paused in mid-tilt. "You did."

Utterly lost, she dipped her head in question. "But I'm not dead."

"You are not."

Died but not dead.

 _'Undying.'_

 _Transient_ guest, he had said.

 _Playing_ the part, he had said.

Who would pretend to be temporal? Who would want to induce a desire to be... _fleeting_?

Unwitting, a soundless word formed on Lily's lips. " _Immortalis_."

"Shall I tell you a rather obvious, if not relevant, secret?" She returned her sight to darkened gold as a lightly shadowed hand reached across the table and picked up the lone and forgotten crystal bloom. "Beyond that door, you'll find yourself in the arms of your husband once more."

Her mouth fell slightly agape. "James is there?"

A chill ravaged her as a carnivorous and feral grin carved its way onto a classical countenance. "Yes…James Potter may be found beyond that door."

Daring to hope against hope, Lily tentatively asked, "And Harry?"

The Shade answered by offering the crystal. "So long as you choose to remember."

The pads of her fingers brushed against his skin momentarily as she took the flower in hand, sending a charge up her arm and into her neck.

Wrapping the structure softly between the fingers of two hands, she noted with surprise that it was in the shape of a lily flower.

Uncertain emeralds wavered as they rose to meet the Shade's gaze. "You're not lying to me are you?"

A single hand, pale and long-fingered, reached out to tuck a strand of red hair behind her ear. Golden eyes tilted in question. "Who's to say?"

Her breathing slowed and Lily lowered her eyes.

Nodding slowly, she gently rose from her chair as the Shade settled back. She reached the cold emanating door and stood transfixed as her eyes found the previously missing door handle. Hugging the flower to her chest, Lily placed one hand on the handle.

Thoughts of James and Harry whirling in her mind nevertheless, as her grip solidified, she turned back around to gain one last glance at the Shade.

Long strands of waving ebony fell into a messy V on the nape of a pale neck.

She turned the handle and smiled demurely as a single hand rose to finish off the cup of tea. "You never told me who you were."

"Flower," A silent laugh rang black, "you already know the answer to that question."

She smiled feebly and turned the handle. "I guess I do."

* * *

Power and Grace fell into her and emerald eyes snapped opened as she gasped.

She shot up straight, sitting and placing a hand down on her sternum to steady herself. A quick glance told her that she had been laying on white sheets of silk and a veiled bed.

Her breathing still heavy, she lightly swept several locks of red hair away from her brow.

Easing her eyes to and fro, she reached out and pulled back the drapes of the four poster bed and stepped down onto a thick layer of pale blue grass. The action causing a slight sensation of static as her slender and cream color legs slid against cool sheets of silk.

She looked around, turning a strand of hair over in her fingers, while a soft smile played across her lips.

She was back in her garden.

Trees of gold and platinum, wound themselves in thin branches as they bore fruit of every jewel and gem under the Earth. Veins of sapphire crawled over the vaulted stone ceiling and berries of rubies glittered across the ground.

Past archways of starlight, she saw a small basin of water, pooling over diamonds and falling onto a stream of cascading onyx.

A slight breeze placed a chill upon her legs, causing her to look down. Adorned in night dress of glimmering violet fabrics, she hastily adjusted the garment to protect herself against the ambient chill as well as from any eyes that might wander.

Another scan of her forest left her frowning.

Where was he?

Instinctively, she threw out her senses, willing her touch to navigate the eddying tides of the world. And find him quite easily she did.

Black and overwhelming, his presence shone with a dark light as it pressed and twisted the energies of reality to his whim.

An easy smile crossed her face as she willed herself away, tearing through the fabric of space as she went to meet him.

 _Him_.

Who stood tall and proud under the willow of silver. His mien every iota the King and Overlord that he was.

Delicately, the soles of her feet floated over the glistening dew ever present in her orchard as she went to him with hands woven lightly behind her back.

She stopped with just a single step separating them and peered up into those golden eyes shining with ethereal mirth and mischief.

"The arms of my husband?" She asked with a pointedly raised brow.

A pale hand rose, taking with it a single tress off her shoulder and, twixt forefinger and thumb, he pressed it to his lips.

Mouth moving against the lock, he quietly spoke. "Red hair…it suits you."

She rolled her eyes. "You're such a liar."

"Only to you."

She leaned into him with fond exasperation. "I'm back."

Cold arms caged her.

"Welcome home…Persephone."

* * *

 **Author's Note: Small, simple and hardly my best work but, I enjoyed writing it.  
**


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